70 years in the making, NASCAR and ‘The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’ share one of the longest-running relationships in racing history. For 25 years, Goodyear has carried the pride of being NASCAR’s sole official tire partner. From the groundbreaking introduction of radial tires in the 1980s to bringing forth special road course rain tires in 2018, the technological advancements done by Goodyear to the sport are numerous. Headquartered in Ohio, Goodyear renewed its deal to remain the “Official Tire of NASCAR” last year, amidst a lot of disgruntlement from fans.

With the advent of their renewed contract with the sporting promotion, it appears the company’s engineers have been heavy at work. As revealed by Dustin Long of NBC Sports, Goodyear is set for a major changeup in its products for NASCAR. Speaking to the media in the 2023 Watkins Glen pre-race interview, Kyle Busch, driver for Richard Childress Racing shared his thoughts on the rejig at a time when the playoffs are fast approaching.

Goodyear’s decision to change tires amidst crucial playoffs

Posing a question to Kyle Busch, Dustin revealed that Goodyear was planning on changing its tires for the three crucial playoff races at the Bristol Motor Speedway, the Martinsville Speedway and the Phoenix Raceway. Citing that Kyle has been in the scene a long enough time to know that it wasn’t customary to touch or change anything in the playoffs of the sport, he asked, “So the idea that the tire, especially at these significant races will be changing or could be changing in terms of Martinsville… What does that mean for you? And the thought that there would be a new tire for Phoenix, for Championship weekend.

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Changing the variables in crucial races could affect final outcomes in multiple ways. While this decision by Goodyear does seem out of the ordinary, it should be noted that the existing tires from the maker don’t exactly have rave reviews from sport spectators. Even as Goodyear signed the renewal contract with NASCAR, several fans were disappointed with the move considering the numerous tire failures that occurred in the 2022 season.

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Answering Dustin Long’s question, Kyle maintained neutrality on the decision and hoped for the best outcome possible from the changes.

“Nothing we can do to change it”, Kyle Busch accepts fate

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38 year old Kyle is nothing short of a legend on the racing tracks of America. Participating extensively in all three NASCAR series, he has earned the tag of being one of the greatest racing drivers of stock car racing. And the opinions that a man like him carries certainly have a lot of thought and reason behind them. Answering Dustin’s question, Kyle said that he leaves the question of what the tires looked or felt like to the people who tested them at Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix. He said that since RCR wasn’t present for any of these testing they would have to rely on their “Hendrick partners” to make the call.

Nevertheless, Kyle did want to make the best out of the situation regardless of the change up. Mentioning that there was nothing they could do to change the decision, he said, “I mean, variables is what our sport is all about, right? So, just trying to find some consistency in that. But, yeah, we’ll take it for what it’s worth and do what we got to do with it. Nothing we can do to change it.” Kyle’s answer also had another backing from his previous experiences at the Phoenix Raceway. He considered racing at the raceway to be “a struggle already” and was welcome to the idea of change, if it would do anything to improve the driving experience.

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Kyle finished the Watkins Glen race in 14th position on Sunday and has already broken into the final 16. With just one more regular season race to go, the racing community eagerly awaits the playoffs. A lot of fingers will be crossed with the hopes that Goodyear’s changeup doesn’t make a complete fiasco of things.